Kleemann A/S is an after-market tuning company for

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

sports cars, sedans, and

SUVs A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definitio ...

headquartered in

Farum Farum is a town on the northeast of the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark, 20 km northwest of Copenhagen. The town has a population of 20,312 (1 January 2022).

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. Recently, they have begun producing performance supercharging systems for

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

, BMW, and

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...

. Kleemann's slogan is "Comfort Power," referring to its low-boost, high-output engines that create substantially more power than standard Mercedes models. Kleemann vehicles also include structural and mechanical integrity improvements often lacking in tuned sports cars. Its corporate logo is an abstract arrow which some corporate representatives refer to as the Kleemann carrot. Any vehicle on the Mercedes lineup can be tuned in a number of ways from SLK roadsters to G-Class Wagons. Customers can specify custom seats, floormats, and interior fabrics as well as

carbon fiber Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

body kits, carbon front and rear splitters, and carbon interior panelling. Customers can order simple ECU upgrades that change

transmission Transmission may refer to: Medicine, science and technology * Power transmission ** Electric power transmission ** Propulsion transmission, technology allowing controlled application of power *** Automatic transmission *** Manual transmission *** ...

shift times and

valve timing In a piston engine, the valve timing is the precise timing of the opening and closing of the valves. In an internal combustion engine those are usually poppet valves and in a steam engine they are usually slide valves or piston valves. Internal ...

, or they can more aggressively have the engine bored and

supercharged In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement. The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced induct ...

, install

camshaft A camshaft is a shaft that contains a row of pointed cams, in order to convert rotational motion to reciprocating motion. Camshafts are used in piston engines (to operate the intake and exhaust valves), mechanically controlled ignition systems ...

s and high-flow headers. Kleemann also manufactures its own racing wheels, racing

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...

s, racing

suspension Suspension or suspended may refer to: Science and engineering * Suspension (topology), in mathematics * Suspension (dynamical systems), in mathematics * Suspension of a ring, in mathematics * Suspension (chemistry), small solid particles suspend ...

components, and multi-piston

brakes A brake is a mechanical device that inhibits motion by absorbing energy from a moving system. It is used for slowing or stopping a moving vehicle, wheel, axle, or to prevent its motion, most often accomplished by means of friction. Background ...

. Kleemann can even install

Lamborghini Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. () is an Italian brand and manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its subsidiary Audi. Ferruccio Lamborghini (1916–1993) ...

-style vertical doors on their modified vehicles.

History

Kleemann was founded in 1985 near Copenhagen. Initially it was a two-man operation, but took on a third partner in 1994. Kleemann began marketing its

supercharger In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement. The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced induct ...

performance systems in 1988.

Records

In 2002 Danish race driver

Jason Watt Jason Watt (born 24 February 1970) is a Danish racing driver. Watt enjoyed a fruitful karting career before moving into Formula Ford in 1992. He graduated to the British Formula Vauxhall Lotus Winter Series in 1993, winning the championship, as ...

drove 338 km/h (210 mph) in a 607 hp (446 kW) Kleemann E 55K (

W210 The Mercedes-Benz W210 was the internal designation for a range of executive cars manufactured by Mercedes-Benz and marketed under the E-Class model name in both sedan/saloon (1995–2002) and station wagon/estate (1996–2003) configurations. ...

model) making it the world's fastest four-door car. Less than a year later a Kleemann tuned ML 55K clocked a remarkable 282 km/h (175 mph) on the

Nardò Ring The Nardò Ring, originally known as Pista di prova di Nardò della Fiat (Fiat's Nardò test track) when it was built in 1975, is a high speed test track located at more than north-west of the town of Nardò, Italy, in the southern region of Apu ...

in southern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

making it the world's fastest

SUV A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definiti ...

. However, both records have since been broken by

Brabus Brabus GmbH ( stylized in uppercase) is a German high-performance automotive aftermarket tuning company founded in 1977 in Bottrop (Ruhr area). Brabus specialises in Mercedes-Benz, Maybach and Smart vehicles, although in 2022 it also tuned two ...

Bottrop Bottrop () is a city in west-central Germany, on the Rhine–Herne Canal, in North Rhine-Westphalia. Located in the Ruhr industrial area, Bottrop adjoins Essen, Oberhausen, Gladbeck, and Dorsten. The city had been a coal-mining and rail cente ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Innovations

Kleemann is credited with being the first company to combine a

intake manifold In automotive engineering, an inlet manifold or intake manifold (in American English) is the part of an engine that supplies the fuel/air mixture to the cylinders. The word ''manifold'' comes from the Old English word ''manigfeald'' (from the ...

, and an

intercooler An intercooler is a heat exchanger used to cool a gas after compression. Often found in turbocharged engines, intercoolers are also used in air compressors, air conditioners, refrigeration and gas turbines. Internal combustion engines Mo ...

into one single unit atop the engine block known as the Kleemann Kompressor. This is markedly different from the "Kompressors" or superchargers found on

Mercedes-AMG Mercedes-AMG GmbH, commonly known as AMG, is the high-performance subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz AG. AMG independently hires engineers and contracts with manufacturers to customize Mercedes-Benz AMG vehicles. The company has its headquarters in Aff ...

vehicles, although AMG has since begun manufacturing only

twin-turbo Twin-turbo (not to be confused with a twincharger setup, which is a combination of a supercharger and a turbocharger) refers to an engine in which two turbochargers work in tandem to compress the intake fuel/air mixture (or intake air, in the case ...

engines. Kleemann also utilizes twin-screw superchargers instead of

roots type supercharger The Roots-type blower is a positive displacement lobe pump which operates by pumping a fluid with a pair of meshing lobes resembling a set of stretched gears. Fluid is trapped in pockets surrounding the lobes and carried from the intake si ...

s of conventionally belt-driven boost systems.

Vehicles

*Kleemann E 55K *Kleemann ML 55K *Kleemann CL 60 *Kleemann E5KCC *Kleemann SLK 55k S8

References

External links

Kleemann Main Page
{{Authority control Mercedes-Benz Auto parts suppliers of Denmark Automotive motorsports and performance companies Auto tuning companies Danish brands